


Awakening

by Pechfeder



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Episode: s03e12-e13 The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords, Fix-It, Janto (hint), M/M, Season 1-4, Spoilers, no au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23982724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pechfeder/pseuds/Pechfeder
Summary: Jack awakes from a terrible nightmare, that nearly drives him mad. But something good, that nightmare had. It showes him, what and especally who he truely wants...
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler: TW 1, 2, CoE, MD – DW Season 3 E 11 and 12  
> Setting: after MD btw before Staffel 2 (you will understand after reading)  
> Note: This is some kind of a Fix-it-Story. I read many FFs, but didn`t find a similar try. This idea came to my mind, when I spoke some years ago with JolinarJackson and she ecouraged me, just to write it. So here it is. I posted this FF some years ago, but in german. So this is a translation of my own FF. I hope you enjoy it.   
> Because I haven't a Beta, there can be some mistakes. Sorry for that...

Screaming.

Toshiko's voice flipped. He saw her eyes widened in fear, fixed on him. Another scream. A shot. Then silence.

Owen's accusations echoed in his head. His angry spat words. A gloating laugh. Another shot. Another silence.

Gwen's tearful plea to do something about it. The realization that this was the end of her. Her confession of love. A third shot. Silence returned.

Ianto, just looking at him bravely. Trying to put all fear behind him. Accepting death long ago. A faint smile. Whispered words, full of forgiveness. One last shot. His own voice cried out.

Fuzzy laughter that grew clearer.

His consciousness returned to reality. His body reared up. His hands pulled the chains to get to his friends. But the bodies before him dissolved. Only one person remained where he was.

"Good morning, sunshine", the gloating voice of a blond man greeted him. The Master.

Only slowly did the memories return. He was trapped. None of this had been real. Jack tried to control his heartbeat. The tugging at the chains stopped and the relief in his eyes turned to pure hatred.

"Oh, that's not a nice look. Do you really want to look your friends in the eye like that?", the master asked, lecturingly. He wagged his tongue and clicked his finger in front of his immortal pet's face.

"You trained them very well, Jack. It took me three months to catch them all. But now I have them all together. They are so longing for you," he reported and turned away.

"I am really merciful, you know? Everyone always misunderstands me and thinks I am heartless. But I am not like that. I will allow you to say good-bye to them. To each and every one of them. Oh, you don't mind if I make the Doctor watch, do you? He's so old and fragile. If I let him down here, he wouldn't get the air at all," the Master continued in his monologue.

The words did not miss their effect. The heartbeat of the immortal accelerated again with fear.

"Leave them alone," he croaked. His throat was dry. How long had the Master kept him imprisoned in his own mind? He did not remember. Every sense of time had been lost.

"If you tell me the whereabouts of Martha Jones, I will consider it. But until then, I guess I'll have to prove to you how serious I am...", the Master pulled his screwdriver, pressed a button and the screen in front of Jack turned on.

It showed a room with four people inside.

An asian woman sitting in a corner, her arms wrapped around her legs that were pulled tight to her chest. Tosh.

Another woman, right next to the asian woman, with one arm wrapped around her. Gwen.

A man walking up and down. Still not giving up looking for a way out, kicking furiously into the wall. Owen.

One last man. Young. In jeans and a hoodie. He sat on the floor and watched the doctor's movements. Ianto.

They all had scratches and minor injuries. They'd obviously put up a fight. His eyes were on his friends.

"I don't know," he finally said, trusting his voice again.  
"I don't know where Martha is. I don't know what mission the Doctor has given her. Leave them alone," he cried.

The people on the screen were startled. Ianto and the two women stood up. The speakers were switched on and he could hear them.

"That was Jack, wasn't it?" asked the Welsh woman, looking around at the others.

Tosh nodded. Owen shrugged.

"I don't know. It's been a long time since I've heard him," he said, slightly waving his face.

Ianto shook his head.

"That was definitely Jack," he confirmed Gwen's suspicion.

"JACK! Jack, can you hear us?" cried Gwen.

Jack swallowed hard. It was so good to hear their voices. But that they were here meant the end of them. The Master would never, ever let anyone live. He knew.

"Leave them alone. I told you I don't know anything," Jack called again and pulled the chains so hard that his wrists started to bleed.

The Master had begun to tiger around him.  
"You know. I am a good man. Well, actually, I am not a human being at all", he laughed softly at his inappropriate joke.  
"I really want to believe you, but I must be on the safe side," he taught the immortal.

"So who is it? Come on Jack. I've been asking around about you. Which one are you shagging?" the Time Lord asked gurgling.

The prisoners looked at each other. Apparently, they could hear them. Jack's gaze lay on them. He saw Ianto trying to step forward but Gwen held him back by the arm and whispered something to him.

The Master didn't notice. He just looked at him and watched his movements. The immortals muscles tightened. But in the end he shook his head. He knew too well that this man would never let any of his friends live. As much as he was pained at the thought of not being able to save any of them... It would hurt him even more to send one of them to their death with the feeling of betrayal. He could never betray Ianto.

The Master clicked his tongue angrily and took a few steps away.

"All right. Do you hear that, you puny little primates? Your keeper is driving you to slaughter. Your blood will be on his hands!" he hissed towards the monitor.

Jack couldn't keep his eyes on the screen as the screams began to gnaw deep into his mind. Tears ran down his cheeks as a tangle of voices slowly began to fall silent.

He just couldn't do it. At least do them this honour. They were so brave, his friends. Right to the end. But it was good, he said to himself. Now that they were gone, he didn't have to worry about them or what had been done to them. All he had left now was to trust the Doctor. To save the world and reverse whatever the paradox machine was sustaining.

"Oh... poor Jack. Now there's no-one left. No-one who can help you. You killed them, not me. You know that, don't you? You were the deciding factor that made all this possible. If it wasn't for you... the Doctor would never have reached the end of the time and I wouldn't have found a way back in time. So thank you, Jack,' mocked the Time Lord.

Slowly he moved into Jack's field of vision and caught his gaze. He held it tight and slowly, the eyes of the immortal became darker and darker.

"That's why I have a gift for you. A gift for you eternity...", only softly the Master's words came through before it got dark around him...


	2. Chapter 2

Another half year of torture and several escape attempts later, he was brought to the bridge of the Vailliant. Martha's family, Martha herself and the Doctor were there. The Doctor did not abandon him. He had found a way to defeat the Master and reverse what he had done. 

He came back home. To Cardiff. To Torchwood. He was back where he needed to be.

So much happened too fast.

His past was catching up with him. In the shape of John Hart.

Gwen was engaged. 

Ianto gave him a chance to make amends. He forgave him, though it was hard work, to save what he'd destroyed.

So many aliens, so much new technology.

A reunion with Martha, working with him and his team. 

Owen's death. 

Owen's resurrection.

Gwen's wedding.

Grey.

Tosh's and Owen's lonely death.

Gwen, Ianto and him, the three of them. How they made the most of what they had left.

The feelings inside him that grew stronger and quieter, so he could suppress them.

Once again, his past caught up with him.

Ianto's confession of love.

Ianto's death.

The missed chance to give him peace on the way.

The feeling that the world had stopped spinning. The feeling that the world was cold and dark.

Steven's death.

His own daughter's eternal hate.

One last chance to see Ianto again. To finally end his own life and leave this world with Ianto.

A first and last chance to say, "I love you".

Let go of Ianto one last time.

Escape from his feelings and his own inability to just carry on as before.

Realising that Gwen was no longer a reason to stay on Earth.

A brief reunion with the Doctor.

An attempt to get him to move on.

His return to Earth out of concern.

A new threat.

A reunion with Gwen.

To become mortal but not give in to the temptation to find peace at last.

New friends. 

Former lovers.

The painful memories of old friends.

Memories of Ianto.

Guilt.

Restoring the worlds order.

Let millions of people die and walk away with dignity.

Death on death on death...

Is that what his life was about?

…

With a heavy breath his own immortality tore him back to life, which once again - just for fun - the Master had tried to take away from him.

Blood ran like tears from the corner of Jack's eye. Trapped in his own mind, in a loop of his own brain that had created a whole world, a whole history. One continuous agony.

The cold metal around his wrists separated and his body was hold.

"Come on Jack", a sharp slap was not enough to get him out of that state.

Jack was laid down on the hard floor of the sky ship and warm fingers lay against his temples.

Something tore him violently back to reality.

Another gasp for air filled the room. Hands reached into the air and finally found brown cloth with pinstripes on it. 

As the American's gaze cleared, he saw him before him, the Doctor.

"You..." he croaked.

The Time Lord grinned.

"Welcome back Jack. Come on, we need your help. The Master has fallen," he reported briefly and helped his friend to his feet.

Jack did not quite understand what had happened. But one thing he understood very clearly: Everything that had happened so far had been a dream.

Now he only wanted one thing. To go home.

For now, even if everything that had happened had been an illusion, his feelings had been real.

He now knew what he had to do. What was most important to him...


End file.
